Yhe last hotel guests of Voco The Hague on Kneuterdijk are just leaving their breakfast table when Bas Hoog (37) walks into 'his' restaurant Botanica. He is dressed in a fresh apron to start the day. Green, of course, just like the lush plant displays that adorn the space. "Let's sit here," the chef points to a round seat overlooking the blooming ecological courtyard garden.

Chef Bas Hoog uses ingredients from Dutch soil as much as possible.

"Oh, wait, I'll clear the table first." It marks the cheerful talker as a modern cooperating foreman in the brigade. "There are chefs who turn their noses up at this, I'm not like that." High should know, with his long track record in culinary excellence at Seinpost, Imko Binnerts, Le Cirque, Crème Crue and Niven.

And so, since summer 2022, he has been swaying the sceptre over everything food and drink-related at Voco The Hague. Besides restaurant Botanica, these include the Ultramarine Wonderbar, banqueting, breakfast and even room service. "Everything as far as I am concerned should be at the same high level and we put the same amount of love into everything.

But at Botanica, I can express most of my signature," confesses Hoog. That signature belongs to the so-called Dutch Cuisine, with a leading role for vegetables (eighty per cent) and the use of local, sustainable products of the season as much as possible. "Just a matter of logical thinking," he sums up soberly. "That does fit in these times with concerns about nature."

Hoog got the inspiration for this fan of courgettes with tomato oil and a Hague egg yolk while watching the film 'Ratatouille' with his children.

"I am still classically trained," Hoog continues. "The pigeons had to come from Anjou, the artichokes from Brittany and so on. Even then I wondered why you should get your pigeons from there when you also have beautiful wood pigeons here. And Dutch cauliflower can also be fantastic."

With a wide arm gesture, "Look at what a unique place we are in here! When they ask me who my very best suppliers are, I don't mention names, but I say: the Westland and the North Sea. That's exactly where we are with Botanica." At the same time, the chef advocates a broader definition of "local" than "around the corner". "Everything from Dutch soil I consider local, after all we are such a small country."

On to the menu. "If anything goes with the vegetables, it doesn't have to be a whole piece of meat or fish," the chef explains. "Take Brandt & Levie's sausages, you can use a few slices of those just fine if you cut them the right way." Completely vegetarian - "not vegan, I can't do without butter" - is his latest hit: yellow beetroot, slowly cooked in its skin with spices, served with a cream of yellow carrot and turmeric. "The turmeric is a nod to Indonesia, which has also influenced Dutch Cuisine historically. The beurre blanc with this dish is set up with white wine vinegar, seaweed from the North Sea and mandarin juice. That hint of citrus lifts the earthiness of the turmeric nicely."

SEMOLINA PUDDING

A lover of semolina pudding, Hoog gave this ancient Dutch dessert classic a place on Botanica's menu. "We also make the pudding in the famous mould," he laughs. "Then we put an iced tarragon pastille against it for some spiciness. With that, we serve a mix of five kinds of native pickled berries and we top it off with a meringue of beetroot."

Vegetables in dessert, that's 'not done', right? "It certainly used to be, but nowadays it can be done," the chef knows. "It's really fun to play with because vegetables, like fruit, contain a lot of sugars. For example, our frozen yoghurt comes with sea buckthorn berries from Kijkduin, white chocolate and ... pumpkin! Guests can also appreciate it."

Gradually, Hoog started to simplify. "It's about the art of omission, that quest is the most complicated thing about cooking. At the same time, it fits into the Dutch tradition of 'not too difficult' and 'just do it'.

"We also keep the layout simple, in the end it's about the combination of flavours. It has to be so delicious that you actually want another plate. And subsequently, a lot of what I make is pretty easy to imitate at home." That does not apply to his recent experiment with mackerel on the robata grill, an open charcoal fire. "For the right firmness of the fish, brining, which we always do, turned out not to be enough. Now we shock-freeze the mackerel and put it frozen on the grill. A taste! You've never tasted anything like it."

The wheels in the creative brain are always turning at full speed. "Sometimes I have to slow myself down to get the team on board," admits Hoog. "I have inspirations at the craziest moments, like while cycling through the polder. That involves tweaking a dish, for example."

Ratatouille

He mentions the tartare with peas and diamond cheese, forgotten meat. "The season for peas was coming to an end, so I was looking for an alternative. I found that when my children were watching 'Ratatouille' and I saw the fan of courgettes that chef Thomas Keller designed for the film. This is how I made up the tartare now, with a Hague egg yolk in the middle. The tomato oil I made earlier and almond milk became the dressing."

Dutch Cuisine Menu

All ingredients are used up to the last drop or crumb in High's kitchen. "Throwing away is totally unnecessary!", he says sternly. "Everything we have left over, we process. This can be done in many ways: from bread trimmings we make croutons, leftover tomatoes and mushrooms we dry in the oven to make powder, and we process many leftovers into oil or vinegar."

Because of this 'zero waste' principle, Botanica works with a Dutch Cuisine Menu in addition to à la carte, which amounts to eating-what-the-pot-chews-on-level. Hoog: "Among other things, we use ingredients that would otherwise be left over. This results in very surprising and creative dishes that you really have to try once."

www.botanicarestaurant.nl and www.ihg.com